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Council OKs preservation contract, tax break for Frank Lloyd Wright house
By MARY SCHLEY
"CHUCK HENDERSON and his family, longtime owners
of the distinctive Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house built on
the rocks above the south end of Carmel Beach, will get a
tax break in exchange for their commitment to protect and
rehabilitate the house formally named Cabin on the Rocks
for at least the next decade, the city council decided Tuesday
evening.
Commissioned by Della Walker, Henderson’s great-grandmother, from the famous architect in 1948 and completed in
1952, the home is on the local, state and national historic registers, and in June, the city’s historic resources board voted
to recommend the city council approve Henderson’s proposal.
Over a 10-year period starting in 2020, Henderson said he
plans to replace the roof, living room upholstery and north
side windows, shore up the north side bluffs and repair the
stone steps to the beach, install a new boiler, and put in an
automatic gate to discourage the trespassers that have become
a problem, among other improvements.
All the work has to be done in conformance with the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation of Historic
Properties, and according to his estimates, the maintenance
and repairs will cost $1,112,533. The contract has a minimum
term of 10 years, and one year is added to the term on each annual anniversary date to extend the agreement up to 20 years,
unless Henderson or the council terminates it."

This is great news.
On top of all of the work to maintain a historic house, let alone one bathed in salt spray, Chuck, as the family's representative for the house, has had to jump through many hoops and expend a lot of effort and treasure to obtain approvals from the California Coastal Commission to take steps to bolster the stone bluff and make repairs to the terrace masonry from the erosion caused by the surf. The CCC's dictate of non-intervention with respect to erosion of the coast was a possible death sentence for the house.

The local municipality's granting of a tax break will certainly help offset some of the costs needed to keep this local landmark high and mostly dry.

"The CCC's dictate of non-intervention with respect to erosion of the coast was a possible death sentence for the house." Nutty---but there you have it. I'm all for sensible regulation on behalf of Nature---but it's nonsense like this that gives all of bureaucracy a bad name ...?